User:Matteo

Normal Moves

Press A/B/C to perform normal moves. Depending on the current state of your character (standing, crouching, jumping), your character will perform different attacks. As a general rule, A attacks are fast, while B and C attacks are and slower and "stronger". Every character has also access to a series of command normals, which are performed with an input while holding one specific direction.

Launchers

Ever character has a launcher, it's a move that sends the opponent flying up in the air, without them being able to tech out for a longer time compared to other moves, and when neutral jump cancelled, will be cancelled into a super jump. The most basic combo structure in Melty is a ground string of buttons > launcher > air string > air throw. All launchers are command normals, and which normal will be your launcher depends on what character you're playing. 5BB and 3C are fairly common ones. You aren't forced to jump after a launcher, and this does allow complex combo theory for many characters.

Blowback Edge

Some normal moves can be charged, and doing so will extra properties to the move, like more damage, extra frame advantage, or many other move-specific quirks. BE is the official Melty terminology for this, but this wiki's notation charing with square brackets, so a charged 5B will be always noted as 5[B]. Some other resources for the game (Especially japanese ones) will use this term, noting a charged 5B as BE5B.

Special Moves

Pressing command inputs like image will perform a Special, a skill with increased damage and various effects. These moves are typically a character's most recognizable, signature attacks. The majority of specials have 2 levels of strenght, the A and the B version, and a third EX version, performed with the C button while having 100% or more meter. Generally most specials can be canceled into from normals, and specials can cancel into EX specials. They are powerful tools that allow both combo extension and neutral control.

Reverse Beat

Crescent Moon and Half Moon characters have access to Reverse Beat (Or Rebeat). This allows them to cancel normal moves into each other regardless of their strenght (5C > 5A > 5B is an example of a string that uses rebeat), but a character can only use a given normal only once in one string. Rebeating will reduce your damage (A "Reverse Beat Penalty" is added to the damage proration, and it increases the more Rebeats you perform, from 22,5% added proration, up to 55%. It will slowly decrease after one stops performing Reverse Beats). It allows for a bit more freeform offense and canceling a riskier heavy attack into a safer light attack, making pressure to be structured in different, more complex ways, making minus on block normals to be plus, or allowing pressure resets more often.

Arc Drive, Another Arc Drive and Last Arc

The "Supers" of Melty Blood, the strongest, cinematic attacks a character can perform. Their input is universally 41236C, and can be accessed to only by being in Heat or MAX Mode. Being in Blood Heat will give you access to a more powerful version of your Arc Drive, the Another Arc Drive. A Last Arc is the "final move" of a character, and is performed by EX-Shielding an incoming attack while being in Blood Heat. Most Last Arcs deal damage depending on how much meter you have left, so they become weaker as the time passes, but some do deal a fixed amount of damage. Due to not having access to Blood Heat, H-Moon characters cannot perform either AADs or LAs.

Throws

Throws are unblockable, short ranged, extremely fast attacks that cannot be combo'd into. All throws are active the third frame, and have a 20f recovery time, making them a decently high risk. Some give a hard knockdown, some are ground techable, it's very character dependant.

Ground throws can be teched, with a 12f window to it (3f before, 1f during, 8f after being thrown), which allows for throw option selects to exist (link to OS page). After techning, the frame advantage is neutral (+0) and the attacker will be pushed away. Air throws are, for everyone, combo starters, making them a viable option against people who stay a lot in the air. They can't be teched (If to throws are inputed the same frame, the game will give priority to whatever character's sprite is being drawn on top of the other).

Throw invincibility

In the 8 frames after blockstun ends/wakeup/getting hit and recovered, opponents will be invulnerable to being thrown. Backdashing during these frames will remove any thrown invulnerability left. Shiki Ryougi's throw does not make opponents invincible to being thrown, allowing her to loop-throw opponents.

Strive vs Throw

In this game, strike always wins against throw. This means that, unlike games like Guilty Gear, throws on wakeup are not a viable option as they will always lose to meaties.